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You are here >   CGA Message: Summer 2012
  

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Message from the CGA - Archives
Winds of Change
Summer 2012


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By now, most everyone is well aware of Ontario Lottery and Gaming’s (OLG) plan to modernize its lottery and gaming operations, including an enhanced role for the private sector in the ownership and operation of gaming assets and business channels. Unlike many crown agencies, OLG did not undertake this planning in a vacuum. Rather, they engaged in thorough consultation with their stakeholders (including the Canadian Gaming Association) and looked far beyond the boundaries of the province for industry best practices. The process produced three key messages:

• The business should become more customer focused.

• Private sector capital and operating expertise should be leveraged.

• OLG should clarify and re-define its role.

 

 

 


In overview, the modernization initiative includes divestiture of existing gaming assets, departure from day- to-day operations, closing or re-locating underperforming facilities, allowing for new facilities in locations closer to customers and with tourism potential, expanding slot facilities beyond racetracks, improving the mix of games available, and allowing for private sector operation and development of new technologies and games for its lottery network and to-be-implemented online offerings (see our cover story for greater detail).

OLG is not alone in Ontario with regards to modernization. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has begun a process to introduce meaningful regulatory reform that will usher in more compliance and risk-based approaches across the various industry segments that it regulates. AGCO is on an announced path to ensure that its regulatory priorities and objectives are properly aligned to present-day risks and expectations, which includes an environment of multi- party private sector ownership and operation.
 

The combined modernization plans of AGCO and OLG will fundamentally change the Ontario gaming landscape and may well auger change elsewhere in Canada. The Ontario approach significantly minimizes investment and operational risk for the public sector and shifts it to the private sector together with commensurate opportunity for reward. This type of regulatory, ownership, and operating environment is familiar to most companies operating in the gaming industry internationally and will result in greater choice, improved product, and an enhanced experience for gaming customers, whatever their preference.

What is vitally important at this stage is for the private sector to offer well-thought-out and meaningful feedback to both OLG and AGCO as they proceed down the modernization path. This is a unique opportunity to share best practices and assist in the improvement of both the regulatory and operational environments of a major market. It’s time for all of us to come together with OLG and AGCO to help chart the way forward.

There are still plenty of questions to be answered and hurdles to overcome as the winds of change blow and the process unfolds. We look forward to working together with AGCO, OLG, and the industry-at-large to make this initiative the unqualified success it deserves to be.

By Bill Rutsey, President and CEO of Canadian Gaming Association

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